1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information processing method and more particularly relates to a method of carrying out common web page collaboration without installing special collaboration software on at least a client.
2. Description of the Related Art
At the time of applying for the present invention, there is provided, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Hei. 10-124461, collaboration technology where cooperative work (reading, moving, and changing) relative to an HTML page can be carried out simultaneously by a number of users. FIG. 13 shows an example of this HTML page cooperative work applied to an internet banking system. In such a system, a bank agent, an internet customer consultation center agent, etc., at a system 1320 can refer to and operate on the same page as a customer at a system 1310.
It is, however, necessary to have collaboration software installed on the client system in related collaboration technology. The collaboration software therefore has to be written in code native to each particular platform on which it may operate which customers may have. Since this is not practical, this therefore limits the platforms and browsers that can be supported. This limitation usually does not present a problem with respect to collaboration by the agent, because the agent""s system 1320 will typically be standardized and only require a single or a few versions, as there will be only a single or a few different platforms. However, customer systems will not be so homogeneous, as different customers will utilize different platforms and browsers. This represents a problem, as collaboration can not take place with customers that use platforms and browsers that are not supported.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide a collaboration system capable of internet-based collaboration that does not require installation of collaboration software on a customer""s system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a low cost collaboration system requiring fewer resources.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a collaboration system that is not dependent on the platform on which an information terminal operates.
A user accesses an external web server via a collaboration server. The collaboration server replaces a transition destination URL of HTML acquired according to a request from the user with a character string including a collaboration server host name and transition destination identification information and sends this character string to the user. When the customer clicks a link, the actual URL to be acquired is identified from the transition destination identification information at the collaboration server, and the collaboration server acquires this URL on behalf of the client and returns it to the browser on the customerside. A browser monitor program then monitors the browser on the agent side, the URL to actually be acquired is identified based on transition notification from the collaboration server and the same HTML as for the user is acquired.
In a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an HTML file acquisition method executed in a system including an information terminal support device for receiving an HTML file acquisition request from a first information terminal equipped with an input device and a display device, acquiring an HTML file including content information corresponding to said HTML file acquisition request from a web server, and having a second information terminal display content corresponding to said content information, said HTML file acquisition method comprising the steps of (a) substituting a transition destination URL of an HTML file acquired by said information terminal support device for a replacement character string including a host name of said information terminal support device and transition destination identification information; (b) sending the HTML file whose transition destination URL was substituted to said first information terminal; (c) receiving, at said first information terminal, a transition destination HTML file acquisition request including said replacement character string created as a result of specification of said replacement character string; (d) acquiring transition destination identification information included in said transition destination HTML file acquisition request; (e) acquiring a transition destination HTML file including content information from a web server based on said transition destination identification information; (f) sending content information included in said transition destination HTML file to said first information terminal; and (g) sending information corresponding to said transition destination identification information to said second information terminal to display content corresponding to content information included in said transition destination HTML file at said second information terminal.
In the scope of the patent claims laid forth in the specification for this application, xe2x80x9ccontent informationxe2x80x9d refers to information used to specify content, such as file name and path name, etc. xe2x80x9cContentxe2x80x9d refers to concepts including image information and character information, etc. The meaning of xe2x80x9ctransition destination identification informationxe2x80x9d includes information used in identification of transition destinations such as transition destination URLs or combinations of a transition source URL and information for specifying an element where an HTML acquisition request occurred (htm tag numbers, etc.), etc. xe2x80x9cinformation corresponding to transition destination identification informationxe2x80x9d is a concept including information required to maintain collaboration such as transition destination identification information itself, or information translated under the predetermined rule.
In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an HTML file acquisition method executed in a system including an information terminal support device for receiving an HTML file acquisition request from a first information terminal equipped with an input device and a display device, acquiring an HTML file including content information corresponding to said HTML file acquisition request from a web server, and having a second information terminal display content corresponding to said content information, said HTML file acquisition method comprising the steps of (a) substituting a transition destination URL of an HTML file acquired by said information terminal support device for a replacement character string including a host name of said information terminal support device and transition destination identification information, and sending said HTML file to said first information terminal; (b) receiving, at said first information terminal, a transition destination HTML file acquisition request including said replacement character string created as a result of specification of said replacement character string; (c) acquiring transition destination identification information included in said transition destination HTML file acquisition request; and (d) sending information corresponding to said transition destination identification information to said second information terminal to display content corresponding to content information included in said transition destination HTML file at said second information terminal.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an HTML file acquisition method executed in a system including an information terminal support device for receiving an HTML file acquisition request from a first information terminal equipped with an input device and a display device, acquiring an HTML file including content information corresponding to said HTML file acquisition request from a web server, and having a second information terminal display content corresponding to said content information, said HTML file acquisition method comprising the steps of (a) receiving a collaboration request from said first information terminal; (b) allocating said second information terminal to carry out collaboration with said first information terminal in reply to said collaboration request; (c) receiving an HTML file acquisition request from said first information terminal; (d) substituting a transition destination URL of an HTML file acquired by said information terminal support device for a replacement character string including a host name of said information terminal support device and transition destination identification information; (e) sending the HTML file whose transition destination URL was substituted to said first information terminal; (f) receiving, at said first information terminal, a transition destination HTML file acquisition request including said replacement character string created as a result of specification of said replacement character string; (g) acquiring transition destination identification information included in said transition destination HTML file acquisition request; (h) acquiring a transition destination HTML file including content information from a web server based on said transition destination identification information; (i) sending content information included in said transition destination HTML file to said first information terminal; and (j) sending information corresponding to said transition destination identification information to said second information terminal to display content corresponding to content information included in said transition destination HTML file at said second information terminal.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided an information terminal support device for receiving an HTML file acquisition request from a first information terminal equipped with an input device and a display device, acquiring an HTML file including content information corresponding to said HTML file acquisition request from a web server, and having a second information terminal display content corresponding to said content information, said information terminal support device comprising: (a) an HTML translator for substituting a transition destination URL of an HTML file acquired by said information terminal support device for a replacement character string including a host name of said information terminal support device and transition destination identification information; (b) a web server for sending the HTML file whose transition destination URL was substituted to said first information terminal; (c) a HTML analyzer for, at said first information terminal, analyzing a transition destination HTML file acquisition request including said replacement character string created as a result of specification of said replacement character string and then transmitted, and acquiring transition destination identification information included in said transition destination HTML file acquisition request; (d) a cache manager for acquiring a transition destination HTML file including content information from a web server based on said transition destination identification information; and (e) an agent notifier for sending information corresponding to said transition destination identification information to said second information terminal to display content corresponding to content information included in said transition destination HTML file at said second information terminal.
In the scope of the patent claims laid forth in the specification for this application, xe2x80x9cinformation terminal support serverxe2x80x9d is a concept that also includes proxy servers, etc. in addition to xe2x80x9ccollaboration serversxe2x80x9d described in an embodiment following hereafter.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided an information terminal support device for receiving an HTML file acquisition request from a first information terminal equipped with an input device and a display device, acquiring an HTML file including content information corresponding to said HTML file acquisition request from a web server, and having a second information terminal display content corresponding to said content information, said information terminal support device comprising: (a) an agent allocator for allocating said second information terminal to carry out allocation with said first information terminal; (b) a session management table for managing a corresponding relationship of said first information terminal and said second information terminal; (c) an HTML translator for substituting a transition destination URL of an HTML file acquired by said information terminal support device for a replacement character string including a host name of said information terminal support device and transition destination identification information; (d) a web server for sending the HTML file whose transition destination URL was substituted to said first information terminal; (e) a HTML analyzer for, at said first information terminal, analyzing a transition destination HTML file acquisition request including said replacement character string created as a result of specification of said replacement character string and then transmitted, and acquiring transition destination identification information included in said transition destination HTML file acquisition request; (f) a cache manager for acquiring a transition destination HTML file including content information from a web server based on said transition destination identification information; and (g) an agent notifier for sending information corresponding to said transition destination identification information to said second information terminal to display content corresponding to content information included in said transition destination HTML file at said second information terminal.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium for storing an HTML file acquisition program executed by a system including an information terminal support device for receiving an HTML file acquisition request from a first information terminal equipped with an input device and a display device, acquiring an HTML file including content information corresponding to said HTML file acquisition request from a web server, and having a second information terminal display content corresponding to said content information, said program comprising: (a) program code instructing said information terminal support device to substitute a transition destination URL of an HTML file acquired by said information terminal support device for a replacement character string including a host name of said information terminal support device and transition destination identification information; (b) program code instructing said information terminal support device to send an HTML file with a replaced transition destination URL to said first information terminal; (c) program code instructing said information terminal support device to, at said first information terminal, receive a transition destination HTML file acquisition request including said replacement character string created as a result of specification of said replacement character string; (d) program code instructing said information terminal support device to acquire transition destination identification information included in said transition destination HTML file acquisition request; (e) program code instructing said information terminal support device to acquire a transition destination HTML file including content information from a web server based on said transition destination identification information; (f) program code instructing said information terminal support device to send content information included in said transition destination HTML file to said first information terminal; and (g) program code instructing said information terminal support device to display content corresponding to content information included in said transition destination HTML file at said second information terminal by sending information corresponding to said transition destination identification information to said second information terminal.
In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium for storing an HTML file acquisition program executed by a system including an information terminal support device for receiving an HTML file acquisition request from a first information terminal equipped with an input device and a display device, acquiring an HTML file including content information corresponding to said HTML file acquisition request from a web server, and having a second information terminal display content corresponding to said content information, said program comprising: (a) program code instructing said information terminal support device to substitute a transition destination URL of an HTML file acquired by said information terminal support device for a replacement character string including a host name of said information terminal support device and transition destination identification information, and send said HTML file to said first information terminal; (b) program code instructing said information terminal support device to, at said first information terminal, receive a transition destination HTML file acquisition request including said replacement character string created as a result of specification of said replacement character string; (c) program code instructing said information terminal support device to acquire transition destination identification information included in said transition destination HTML file acquisition request; and (d) program code instructing said information terminal support device to display content corresponding to content information included in said transition destination HTML file at said second information terminal by sending information corresponding to said transition destination identification information to said second information terminal.